The Cincinnati Bengals lost 39-34 against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Two critical turnovers by Joe Burrow in the fourth quarter that led to touchdowns for Josh Allen and the Bills were ultimately too much to overcome. It is fair to say that the Bengals wouldn’t have had any chance in this game without Joe Burrow and the offense.
There are always some positive performances to try and pick out during losses, no matter how heartbreaking they are. Orlando Brown Jr. has put up his best two performances of
the season in pass protection the last two weeks. Last week, he recorded a 91.5 pass blocking grade per PFF. This week, he recorded a 90.5 grade.
While he appeared to have lost a step early in the season, he is playing better the second half of the year. Over those two weeks, he has not been credited with allowing a single pressure. In comparison, Brown had allowed 33 pressures on the season during his first eleven games of the year. That is an average of three pressures per game. Prior to these last two games, he had allowed at least one pressure in every other game of the season.
With Brown entering the last year of his contract next season, the Bengals could decide to give him an extension. If not, they may turn their eyes toward the draft to go ahead and draft his eventual replacement at left tackle. Brown will be turning 30 years old in May of this year, that could also factor in to what the Bengals plan to do at the position moving forward.
